Campaign fodder for Capitol Steps

Thursday

Nov 12, 2015 at 6:00 AMNov 12, 2015 at 1:05 PM

By Richard DuckettTelegram & Gazette Staff

This is no time for a political satirist to get frozen for ideas.

"It's both a dream come true and 'How are we going to handle this?' " said Elaina Newport, a co-founder and also a writer, performer and producer with the political comedy troupe The Capitol Steps, about the never-ending bizarre twists and turns of the current presidential campaign and the constant need for new material.

The Capitol Steps will be bringing its show "Mock the Vote" to The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester on Nov. 19. However, Newport said she'll have to stay behind at the troupe's home base in Washington, D.C. "I'm stuck here waiting to send the cast new lyrics," Newport said during a telephone interview, perhaps only half jokingly.

Members of The Capitol Steps have to stay on their toes. Some of the troupe's recent songs include Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden singing "Get Out Joe" to the music of "Let it Go" from the Disney movie "Frozen." Bernie Sanders has sung "If There Were No Rich Men" ("If I Was A Rich Man" from "Fiddler on the Roof"), and George W. Bush has intoned "Jeb is Ready, He's My Brother" ("He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by the Hollies).

"Primary season is always good," Newport said. "Four years ago, there was a good crop then. This time there's so many of them." Another of the show's songs is "Seventy-Six Unknowns" ("Seventy-Six Trombones").

The Republican field of 15 or more presidential candidates can cause concerns for a political humor writer. "What's funny about George Pataki?" Newport mused.

"Carly Fiorina comes and goes. Sometimes she's in the news, sometimes she's not. Ben Carson - every day there's a new angle." Still, "We have songs for maybe a dozen of the candidates," Newport said.

Capitol Steps hasn't just been having fun with the presidential campaign. A recent "(Jim) Boehner Resignation Edition" number was "Loonies of the Right" ("Music of the Night"). Newport said "Mock the Vote" (also the title of the troupe's new album) has a bare-chested Russian President Vladimir Putin on stage performing "Putin On A Blitz."

The footprints of The Capitol Steps go back to 1981, when some Washington, D.C., staffers for then-Sen. Charles Percy - including Newport, who was working as a legislative assistant - put on a Christmas show.

"The joke was we said we wanted to do a Christmas nativity but couldn't find three wise men or a virgin," she said. The show dug into the headlines of the day with song parodies and skits. "We did a few things and thought we might be fired."

However, the show was a success, and the next year other Congressional staff members joined in from both the Democratic and Republican ranks. The Capitol Steps has a tradition of being "equal opportunity" political satire.

Early hits included "Working 9 to 10" about President Ronald Reagan's supposed working habits, and a spoof of the infamous U.S. Secretary of the Interior James Watt titled "Mine Every Mountain."

"It was a fun time," Newport said.

"Charles Percy was one of those Republican moderates you don't find in the wild anymore," she said. Newport calls herself an "extreme moderate" and is married to a former appointee of President Clinton.

Word caught on, and The Capitol Steps performed at the White House for an audience that included President Reagan, who insisted the group perform songs making fun of him.

By then Newport and a couple of other Congressional aides had quit their day jobs.

Newport said she had always liked political humor and also was a pianist, which was useful for the early shows. Although not all of the current members of The Capitol Steps are former Capitol Hill staffers, taken together the performers have worked in a total of 18 Congressional offices and represent 62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience.

The troupe, which has a pool it can draw from of nearly 30, performs every Friday and Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in D.C. and has a show constantly on the road. The group has recorded more than 30 albums, including "Mock the Vote," been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS, and can be heard twice a year on National Public Radio stations nationwide during its "Politics Takes a Holiday" radio specials.

Besides President Reagan, The Capitol Steps have performed for four other presidents - "George Bush Senior was very into it," Newport said - but not President Obama, so far.

Asked who has the better sense of humor, Democrats or Republicans, Newport said, "I don't know. Both sides have asked us to perform."

Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have appeared on "Saturday Night Live," she noted, indicating that "Politicians have figured out having a sense of humor does well with voters."

The "Mock the Vote" show at The Hanover will feature five troupe members and a pianist and have more than 30 songs and skits with multiple costume changes.

"If you've ever wanted to see Obama rock, Biden do a show tune, and Putin shirtless" - this is the show, Newport said.

Contact Richard Duckett at richard.duckett@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter at @TGRDuckett.